Foot & Ankle Center of Washington

Dr. Douglas S. Hale, Dr. Lawrence Z. Huppin, and Dr. Milad Kashani the podiatrists at the Foot & Ankle Center of Washington, are skilled foot and ankle physicians with advanced education, training, respected credentials and more than two decades of meaningful experience in their chosen field.

Our doctors and staff are known for their excellence and are well respected by both patients and the medical community. They are authorities on orthotics and all aspects of foot care and diagnosis from routine matters to the most complex.

Evidence-based medicine is the application of evidence gained from research to the treatment of patients. When treatment is based on the best and most recent studies, more effective relief of foot and ankle problems can be achieved.

Our doctors regularly evaluate the latest and most pertinent research and relies on evidence-based medicine to ensure their patients receive the best possible care. Dr. Hale and Dr. Huppin are known for their conservative approach that results in a highly effective standard of care and has earned the trust of hundreds of referring physicians.

Our doctors are renowned as experts in foot orthotics and have taught orthotic therapy. They are among the nation’s most informed and experienced in the use of advanced foot orthotic therapies to treat problems that are too often treated surgically when there are less-invasive options available.

Learn why our custom orthotics work better for problems as varied as pain in the ball of the foot, big toe joint or in the knees.

We believe in doing what’s best for your unique situation and that rarely begins with surgery. Instead, Our doctors take a more conservative approach to treatment and only once we’ve exhausted all non-surgical treatment options will we pursue a surgical approach.

If we decide surgery is the only option for relief, you can rely on our surgical expertise for meaningful relief. Learn about bunion surgery, neuroma surgery and hammertoe surgery solutions.

TheSeattle Heel Pain Center is our specialty clinic focused on treating chronic heel pain. Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain. We treat this with expertise as well as other causes of heel pain such as Achilles tendonitis, heel spurs, stress injuries and more.

We have an extremely high success rate (near 95%) for plantar fasciitis and are known for curing even the most severe and extreme cases of heel pain.

Our doctors are specialists in treatment of toenail fungus and ingrown toenails. If you have toenail fungus, we’ll provide you with the most current research-based treatment options including lasers and pharmaceutical remedies.

We’ll give you detailed information on options and their effectiveness so you can make an educated choice. We take care of ingrown toenails quickly and in a virtually painless manner for both adults and children.

It’s important to know that you’re in good hands when choosing a physician. This can be hard to determine without firsthand experience. One way to judge is to check out reviews from current and former patients. Our doctors are well reviewed by their satisfied patients who came to them for foot problems.

While finding the best solution for your problem is our primary concern, we always pay attention to the cost of care and do everything we can to keep your costs as low as possible. If there are less expensive treatments that provide the same outcomes as more expensive ones we will use those less expensive treatments first.

Unlike hospitals and hospital-owned clinics, we do not charge a facility fee that can more than double the cost of care.  Our goal is to find the treatment that will give you 100% relief at the lowest cost.

According to this University of Washington 2021 document, you will pay an additional $253 at UW outpatient clinics simply to be in their treatment room.

We want to ensure that you are seen on time and rarely have to wait.  We schedule longer than average appointments and do not overbook.

To help our goals of seeing each patient at their appointed time we ask that you complete your health information on our patient portal prior to your appointment. We also ask that you show up on time for your appointment.

In order to be fair to all of our patients, we provide a 5-minute window after your scheduled appointment time where we can still see you right away (although it may be a shorter appointment).  After the 5-minute window we will still be happy to see you, but you may need to wait until the end of the morning or afternoon session to be seen.

Our clinic is centrally located near downtown Seattle and is convenient for patients all over the metro-Seattle area from Everett to Bellevue to Tacoma. Come see us at our Broadway location near the Swedish Hospital – get directions to our offices by clicking here. Drs. Hale, Huppin and Kashani are ready to help you with your foot, heel and toenail issues today.

TOP important and interesting reviews from patients

- Great experience here. I visited Dr. Hale to address some pain in my second toe (which is longer than the others). He did a good job explaining the underlying issue and recommended treatment. He also did in-house x-rays on the spot to strengthen his analysis. The treatment mainly involved offloading the pressure on the metatarsal-phalangeal joint of my second toe through orthotics and stiffer-soled shoes. One of the most helpful pieces of info was the extensive list of recommended shoes, which you can get free when you sign up for their Foot & Ankle newsletter (see "FREE Recommended Shoe List" on their website homepage).

I spent a long time searching for shoes that would work for me. The list was incredibly helpful. As I browsed shoes, I started bending them all to see how much they bent in the forefoot area (the area I with the pain I was trying to offload). Somehow, it never occurred to me that too much flexion in the sole's ball-of-the-foot area could exacerbate my condition and slow healing.

Now it made perfect sense. Finding shoes was also challenging because the orthotic he provided made the shoes fit differently -- I needed at least a half size larger (so size 14), and the height of the shoe needed more space too. For the first week or two, the orthotics were painful to wear for extended periods, but I'm getting more and more used to them. I can tell that they offload pressure to my injured toe area (when I remove them, I can feel the difference). Overall, Dr. Hale is a top-notch podiatrist with a solid track record of experience helping people like me overcome foot issues. I highly recommend him and this clinic.

- I have a very low tolerance for rudeness and lack of competence from medical professionals, and I found none of that with Dr. Huppin! I can't speak for the orthotics yet, as I'm waiting to receive them, but I felt listened to with no bad attitude or arrogance from him, and he broke down the info he had candidly in layman's terms, like he was talking to a fellow human being. Despite my good experience, I really appreciate them taking the bad reviews here seriously and speaking to the concerns in a kind way. Really tells you a lot about someone's character, how they speak to those who feel wronged by them.

The one thing I wished was different is, one of the receptionists was bossy and snippy with me, I think she was the newest of the two there. She started ordering me around impatiently and not listening when I told her what was already happening. But the other one who seemed more experienced was warm and wonderful, and rescued me away from the rude one as soon as she heard what was happening. I hope they say farewell to the rude one soon, or make sure she never talks to patients like that again! We're not livestock to be corralled and controlled for goodness' sake. I plan to get their names and always just ask for the nice one!